Blacknail’s left arm
tingled numbly as it resisted his attempt to move it properly. He could only
get it to shiver and twitch, which wasn’t nearly enough. He was in the middle
of a sword fight and would have really liked to have both his arms working properly.
Being hit by lightning sucked.
Grunting, Blacknail
eyed his two foes. The sword-wielding Vessel was grinning triumphantly as he
brandished his weapon, while Zelena had a more serious look on her face. She
was eyeing him carefully as she kept the magic jewelry in her hand pointed his
way. Undoubtedly, she was already preparing to hit him with another blast of
lightning. Blacknail was going to have to do something about that, but what?
Hmm, magic would have to counter magic.
Reaching down into
himself, Blacknail grabbed control of the mana within his core and began
circulating it through his body with increased intensity. Instantly, the
tingling in his arm abated somewhat, but that hadn’t been Blacknail’s goal.
Gathering some of the power up, Blacknail turned to growl at Zelena while he
threw the invisible power straight at her.
Unprepared, Zelena
gasped and stumbled back as the magical terror washed over her. Her raised hand
fell as she shivered uncontrollably for a moment. Her fearful reaction enflamed
Blacknail’s predatory instincts. He wished he could have lunged forward and
torn the woman apart, but he wasn’t given a chance. Seeing his ally falter, the
human Vessel charged in to attack the hobgoblin.
Steeling himself,
Blacknail was forced to defend himself using a one-handed grip on his sword. It
was less than ideal, and his lack of leverage quickly allowed the human to push
him back. There was one upside though. Now that he was in close-quarters
combat, Zelena couldn’t get a clear shot on him anymore. Yep, all he had to
worry about was getting a sword shoved down his throat. Yeah!
Stumbling back over a
loose brick, Blacknail hurriedly ducked under a vicious slash that had been
aimed at his face. He then had to sidestep and dodge several more attacks from
his enemy’s blade. He desperately tried to counterattack, but with only one
hand, his attacks were easily blocked or dodged.
Growling in
frustration, Blacknail was pushed back toward a solid wall. The stone was
crumbling, but that wouldn’t stop it from getting in his way. Desperately,
Blacknail tried to step sideways, but Zelena cut him off and raised her hand
menacingly.
“Don’t even think
about it. There is no escape for the likes of you,” she told him in a venomous
tone.
Stuck in place,
Blacknail could only jerk his head backwards as the human Vessel stepped
forward and attacked again. His blade was a blur of speed as it sliced toward
the hobgoblin’s face.
Blacknail’s dodge
wasn’t quite fast enough. The sword bit into flesh and tasted blood as it
sliced into Blacknail’s cheek. Yelping as he jumped back against the wall,
Blacknail raised his weakened hand and clumsily felt up his face. Both his eyes
were still working, good. The cut on his cheek wasn’t too deep, good. His nose…
There was a chunk missing from the tip of his nose! Blacknail gagged and felt
sick. No, this couldn’t be happening! His nose was his best feature, and now it
was ruined forever. Would Herah even want to sleep with him anymore if he
didn’t have a perfect long pointy nose?
“My nose! Your deaths
will be beyond pain!” Blacknail hissed furiously as he glared at his petty
human attackers. How dare they cripple him so. He would tear them apart with
his bare hands and then suck the marrow from their bones!
The hobgoblin’s rage
allowed him to pull up even more mana, which was helping his arm heal, but it
was still very weak after being hit by Zelena’s lightning. More fear-based
attacks probably wouldn’t be effective since he’d already used them on both his
attackers and couldn’t rely on the element of surprise anymore.
“You’re finished now.
A wounded animal that doesn’t know its already dead,” the Vessel announced as
he approached Blacknail with his blade raised.
There was nothing the
hobgoblin could do but ready his defenses. He was very aware of the cold stone
wall behind him. There was nowhere to run and he was outmatched. His odds of
surviving this weren’t great… No, he refused to die here without avenging his
nose! Also, there was Saeter and Herad. He couldn’t forget about them. They
needed to be avenged too, and he was so close.
The enemy vessel
stepped forward and launched a flurry of attacks that immediately put Blacknail
on the defensive. As he desperately defended himself, the hobgoblin took two
shallow cuts on his arms that began leaking blood. Any moment now, he was going
to falter and take a fatal blow. Blacknail glanced hopefully over toward
Ilisti’s fallen form, but the vympir was still completely out of it. What a
lazy useless bastard.
Suddenly, the
combatants’ blades crashed together. The impact caused the steel to ring and
sent a shiver down Blacknail’s arm. Then, the weapon slipped from his grasp. He
could only stare in horror at his fumble.
“Now you’re mine!” the
vessel laughed triumphantly as he raised his blade to deliver the finishing
blow.
That was when a
red-topped blur shot out from behind a pile of rubble and straight toward
Zelena. The female mage spun around, but was too slow to prevent her attacker
from stabbing her in the side.
“Die, you stuck up
bitch!” Khita laughed as she pulled her weapon back. “This will teach you to
mess with the Red Cat!”
The who? No, Khita’s
nonsense wasn’t important. Blacknail concentrated on his enemies.
Zelena gasped in pain
and shock, although her wound didn’t look fatal. Meanwhile, her ally glanced
over to see what was going on and hesitated upon noticing the new arrival. That
moment was all Blacknail needed. He might have been disarmed, but he didn’t
need a weapon to kill humans. He was a hobgoblin, a natural killer. Lunging
forward, he dove in under the man’s raised sword and tackled his opponent to
the ground.
Gasping, the man tried
to defend himself, but Blacknail was in close now. Driven by rage and cruel
instinct, the mutant hobgoblin pulled himself up and chomped down on the
vessel’s exposed neck. His long sharp teeth parted flesh with ease and a flick
of his neck tore open a huge gaping wound. A half-gurgle scream filled the air,
before Blacknail silenced it by taking another big bite. Now the man was
reduced to a shivering pile of meat whose life was quickly draining away.
The taste of blood and
the feel of flesh in Blacknail’s mouth was deeply satisfying, even if humans
didn’t taste great. Still, he let himself swallow the meat and then purr
happily as he got to his feet, leaving his defeated foe beneath him. Normally,
he wouldn’t eat humans, but he deserved to take something back from the stupid
human that had crippled his nose. Really, the man had gotten off too
easy.
Up ahead, Zelena was
still dealing with Khita. As Blacknail watched, she threw the redhead back with
a blast of force. Holding her bleeding side, she then glanced toward Blacknail.
A look of pure horror appeared on her face as she saw the blood-soaked and
manically grinning hobgoblin stalking toward her. Stumbling back, she grabbed
an amulet that hung around her neck. Blacknail prepared to dodge an attack, but
none came. Instead, Zelena’s image became hazy and then disappeared a moment
later, leaving Blacknail blinking in surprise.
“Um, where did that
blonde whore go?” Khita asked in surprise.
“I don’t know,”
Blacknail replied as he looked around. “How are you even here? I thought you
ran from the cold.”
The redhead chuckled
and stuck her chest out proudly. “As if that could keep me away from a good
fight. Once I got warmed up, I ran back into the cold and took one of those
fancy amulets off a fallen knight.”
There was still no
sign of Zelena, but Blacknail had bigger concerns. Climbing up onto a small
pile of rubble, Blacknail looked over toward the fight with Myagnoir.
Things there weren’t
going particular well. Lacking Sir Masnin’s leadership and shinning example,
the remaining fighters from the first group had scattered before the Doom of
Coroulis’ rage. No longer encircled, the great mutant drake was now retreating off
the road and into an alley between two tall buildings. Werrick’s riders were
already abandoning their next charge, as they realized they wouldn’t make it in
time. Myagnoir had been gravelly wounded, but it was far from finished and was
getting away.
Blacknail growled
furiously and his fingers curled up into claws. This was all Werrick’s fault!
He’d set Sir Masnin up to die by not supporting him properly and he’d sent
valuable fighters after Ilisti instead of using them to fight Myagnoir. The
selfish bastard was ruining everything.
Khita climbed up
beside Blacknail and observed the fight too. “Well, that sucks donkey
balls.”
As Blacknail watched,
Werrick’s riders came to stop alongside the scattered remains of Sir Masnin’s
force. The Wolf began yelling orders, but it was obvious that Myagnoir had
escaped. Then, the air shimmered next to Werrick’s horse and Zelena appeared.
The two quickly began talking and then the male femage pointed straight toward
Blacknail and Khita’s location.
“Huh, that’s even worse,”
the redhead observed as the hobgoblin groaned.
At least Blacknail’s
arm was feeling better now. He flexed his fingers and they responded almost
normally, although they were still weak.
Blacknail took a
moment to watch what Werrick was doing, and he really didn’t like it. His
archenemy seemed to be giving a rousing speech to the other humans, who were
responding and getting worked up. It also didn’t appear that he was pointing
them in Myagnoir’s direction. No, he punctuated one particularly loud bout of
yelling by gesturing toward Blacknail’s location.
This was not good. It
was obvious that most the humans in the expedition had barely tolerated the
hobgoblins’ presence, and Blacknail had known that Sir Masnin was the only one
keeping everyone else in line. However, the paladin was gone now, and it seemed
like Werrick was having no problem taking over and turning everyone against
Blacknail. In fact, he seemed to consider getting rid of Blacknail more of a
priority than finishing off Myagnoir. Werrick’s riders reformed and began
moving toward Blacknail.
“Ugh, what do we do
now, boss?” Khita asked him. Blacknail snorted. So, he was her boss now?
“We run away,” he
replied as he hopped down from the pile of rubble and ran over to Ilisti’s
side.
Thankfully, the vympir
was awake. He groaned and gave Blacknail a questioning look. “What happened?”
“A big lizard smacked
you with its tail before eating Sir Masnin. Now everyone is trying to kill us.
You need to get up,” Blacknail told him.
This earned them a
confused stare, but the hobgoblin and the redhead simply grabbed his armor and
pulled him up into something resembling a standing position. He wobbled a bit
but didn’t fall over.
Staring into the
vympir’s eyes, Blacknail gave him some stern advice. “You need to run and hide
for a while. Don’t let the humans find you.”
Ilisti nodded and
straightened up, so they let him stand on his own.
“We’ll buy you some
time. It’s us they want,” Khita added proudly.
Blacknail stared at
her. That was not part of his plan, and why was she including herself? Werrick
couldn’t care less about her. Did she want to be hunted? Stupid human.
Werrick was on his
way, so they didn’t hang around. The allies split up and ran into the ruins,
with Khita and Blacknail going one way, while Ilisti went to find somewhere to
hide. As he ran, Blacknail could hear the pounding of hooves as Werrick closed
in. At least all the rubble and tight turns would slow the horses down a lot,
and Blacknail had a plan. He needed to make it out of the lost city and
rendezvous with his hobs.
Glancing over his
shoulder as he ran, Blacknail saw a horseman ride out from behind a
building.
“This way. I found the
treacherous creature!” the rider yelled to signal to all his companions.
Blacknail bristled as
he grabbed Khita and pulled her around a corner so they couldn’t be seen so
easily. Treacherous creature? He’d never betrayed the expedition! He’d never
had a chance. It had been Werrick that had done that. All these stupid humans
were going to pay for being so dumb.
There was shouting
from behind Blacknail and Khita as they ran toward the gate they’d come in
through. This was quickly followed by some yelling over to Blacknail’s left. It
seemed like the horsemen were spreading out to flank them. All the nearby ruined
homes and bushes made it difficult for Werrick’s men to find them, but it also
made it almost impossible for Blacknail to see what Werrick was planning as
well.
“This way!” the
hobgoblin told Khita as he veered right away from the noise.
Running down a narrow
side street, the pair passed several small buildings that had mostly fallen
apart. Empty windows and shadowy doors surrounded them, but they saw no signs
of movement.
“We’re not going to
run into Myagnoir, are we?” Khita asked nervously. “That thing’s still out
here.”
“No, it went in the
other direction,” Blacknail replied. Or, at least he’d thought it had. All
these bleached stone buildings looked the same and he’d gotten a little turned
around.
Suddenly, there was a
clatter of hooves, and a knight on horseback rode out onto the street ahead of
them. Blacknail and Khita immediately scrambled to a stop as the armored
warrior turned his mount around to face them and yelled to get his allies’
attention.
“Boar crap,” Blacknail
cursed as the knight began charging toward them. They wouldn’t be able to
outrun the rider in the open.
“Through here,” the
hobgoblin yelled as he ran over to one of the nearby homes and jumped through a
window.
Landing on his feet,
Blacknail kept running through the empty building. The only thing in his way
was some wooden debris on the floor and a lot of dust. All the home’s furniture
had long since fallen apart. Behind him, Khita jumped inside the building just
as Blacknail vaulted through another window on the far side of the room. Once
outside, the hobgoblin found himself on another side street. The old crumbling
buildings were tightly packed together here, so there was no way the knight
could come over here. Good, that meant they were safe for a moment.
Khita landed next to
Blacknail, and they both began running again. Blacknail was fairly certain they
were headed for the gate. He would have asked Khita, but she was useless.
Using his long pointy
ears, Blacknail listened carefully for any sign of pursuit. He could hear at
least two group of riders off in the distance, but neither was ahead of them.
The riders kept yelling at each other, so locating them wasn’t hard. Hmm, was
heading for the gate the best idea? They might be able to climb over the city
wall if they could find a spot where some of those thick vines had grown up
over the outside. Well, the way to the gate seemed open for now, so they’d try
that first.
The narrow residential
street the pair were on led to the city wall, so Blacknail and Khita took it
all the way there before turning left toward the gate. They could see the top
of it above some rows of ruined buildings, but there was no straight road
leading to there. Still, with no other real choice, they sprinted in the
direction of the gate.
Unfortunately, that
was when Werrick finally caught up to them. As Blacknail glanced down another side
street as he ran past it, he saw the bandit lord and a dozen riders charging
right for him. Not good! There was a vicious snarl on the Wolf’s face, and none
his followers seemed willing to talk over their differences either.
As the stampede of
horsemen turned the corner and began chasing the pair down, Balcknail
considered his options. They were all bad. Khita and him were already running
with everything they had, but the riders were still closing in. Stupid vile
horses! Blacknail hated all of those hateful beasts. How was riding a big
animal like that fair? It wasn’t!
The huffing and
wheezing of the knights’ mounts reached Blacknail’s ears as they drew in
closer.
“Run the filth down!
Avenge our fallen,” Werrick yelled to the cheers of the other riders. They
sounded as if they were only a few feet away, but were actually at least twenty
seconds behind.
Blacknail grimaced as
he tried to circulate mana through his body to increase his speed. It didn’t
work very well. He was running out of mana. It had been a while since he’d had
a chance to recharge, and he’d been using his powers an awful lot today.
Meanwhile, Werrick’s group drew ever closer.
The hobgoblin knew
that he could speed up a little, but then he’d leave Khita behind, and he
wouldn’t actually be able to escape anyway. It was the later part that mattered
there. Maybe he could pick Khita up and throw her at Werrick? Ugh, knowing the
redhead, she’d somehow survive that, and then he’d be run down. Damn them to
every hell! He was so close to getting what he wanted. If only Werrick hadn’t
started his terrible plan before Blacknail could start his own amazing one.
Well, that was probably the entire point. Werrick was smart enough to know that
Blacknail held all the advantages when they claimed the silver.
That was when things
got much worse. Dashing around a turn, Blacknail and Khita found themselves
facing a dead end. A huge pile of stone blocked their way toward the gate. It
looked like a watchtower had fallen off the city wall, and now its bulk was
completely blocking the road.
As the hobgoblin and
the redhead slowed, one of the riders next to Werrick dashed ahead and closed
in on them from behind. Sword raised high, he prepared to strike at
Blacknail.